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Cafetin

Cafetin is a Tango written by Argentino Galván and recorded by Osvaldo Pugliese in 1947. The Tango Cafetin is written by Argentino Galván, Osvaldo Pugliese has recorded Cafetin with the singer Alberto Moran.
“Cafetin,” translating to “little café” in English, evokes a cozy corner brimming with whispered secrets and shared laughter. This intimate setting holds the essence of nostalgia, where the clinking of glasses and the soft hum of a distant tango wrap around the heart like a familiar embrace. It is a place where time lingers, capturing fleeting moments of connection.

Tango

Style

Osvaldo Pugliese

Orchestra

Alberto Moran

Singer

Homero Expósito

Author

Argentino Galván

Composer

1947/3/27

Date

Alberto Moran
Alberto Moran
Osvaldo Pugliese
Osvaldo Pugliese

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Lyrics Translation of the Tango Cafetin

This is the translation of the Tango “Cafetin” from Spanish to English. The English lyrics of the Tango “Cafetin” have been done with AI.

Letra del Tango Cafetin

Cafetín,

donde lloran los hombres

que saben el gusto

que dejan los mares…

Cafetín

y esa pena que amarga

mirando los barcos

volver a sus lares…

Yo esperaba,

porque siempre soñaba

la paz de una aldea

sin hambre y sin balas.

Cafetín,

ya no tengo esperanzas

ni sueño ni aldea

para regresar.



Por los viejos cafetines

siempre rondan los recuerdos

y un compás de tango de antes

va a poner color

al dolor del emigrante.

Allí florece el vino,

la aldea del recuerdo

y el humo del tabaco.

Por los viejos cafetines

siempre rondan los recuerdos

de un país y de un amor.



Bajo el gris

de la luna madura

se pierde la oscura

figura de un barco.

Y al matiz

de un farol escarlata

las aguas del Plata

parecen un charco.

¡ Qué amargura

la de estar de este lado

sabiendo que enfrente

nos llama el pasado!…

Cafetín,

en tu vaso de vino

disuelvo el destino

que olvido por ti…

English lyrics of the Tango "Cafetin"

Cafe,

where men weep

who know the taste

left by the seas…

Cafe

and that bitter sorrow

watching the ships

return to their homes…

I was waiting,

because I always dreamed

of a peaceful village

without hunger and without bullets.

Cafe,

I no longer have hopes

nor a dream or a village

to return to.

Through the old cafes

memories always wander

and an old tango beat

will color

the pain of the emigrant.

There flourishes the wine,

the village of memory

and the smoke of tobacco.

Through the old cafes

memories always wander

of a country and a love.

Under the gray

of the ripe moon

the dark

figure of a ship is lost.

And to the hue

of a scarlet lamp

the waters of the Plata

look like a puddle.

What bitterness

it is to be on this side

knowing that across

the past calls us!…

Cafe,

in your glass of wine

I dissolve the fate

that I forget because of you…

Cafetin by Homero Expósito

Cafetin is a Tango written by Homero Expósito and composed by Argentino Galván.



Story behind the Tango Cafetin

“Cafetin” depicts the melancholy of a space where worn men gather, sharing their sorrows over glasses of wine. The “cafetin,” a small cafe, serves as a haven for those burdened by the hardships of life, particularly the emigrants who have ventured far from home across the seas. It encapsulates a narrative of loss, nostalgia, and a longing for a simpler, peaceful life away from the devastations of hunger and war.



Symbolism of Cafetin

The imagery of ships and seas recurrent in “Cafetin” symbolizes the journey and the vast separations that define the emigrant experience. Ships returning “to their homes” contrast with the stationary setting of the cafe, symbolizing the static state of the patrons compared to their past mobile lives across the seas. The repeated stanza, “Por los viejos cafetines / siempre rondan los recuerdos,” suggests memories haunting the old cafes, where each tango beat and waft of tobacco smoke revives a sense of past love and homeland.

The line “en tu vaso de vino / disuelvo el destino” metaphorically captures the idea of erasing one’s fate within a glass of wine, indicating how patrons attempt to forget their sorrows temporarily through alcohol, further emphasizing the cafe as a space of personal solace and collective mourning.



Cafetin in historic Context

Created in 1947 Argentina, “Cafetin” reflects the social and emotional climate of the era, post World War II, a period marked by significant migration and displacement that influenced Argentine society and tangos particularly. The historic discontent and the longing for a pre-war idyllic life away from devastation are palpable in the lyrics. Reflecting on either the geographical stretch by the Rio Plata or metaphorically on the broader national mood, the Tango connects individual loss to collective nostalgia.



Homero Expósito

Homero Expósito was a notable Argentine lyricist and poet renowned for his contributions to the Tango genre.